Ornamental bow and blank of components thereof



Dec. 2, I958 Filed June 25, 1956 B. Y. JAMES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 52% Z6 Z2 48 a a 22;

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3 Shegts-Sheet 2 B. Y- JAM ES ORNAMENTAL BOW AND BLANK OF COMPONENTS THEREOF Filed June 25, 1956 Dec. 2, 1958 IN V EN TOR.

Dec. 2, 1958 B. Y. JAMES 2,362,321

ORNAMENTAL BOW AND BLANK OF COMPONENTS THEREOF Filed June 25, 1956 s Sheets-Sheet :5

IN VEN TOR. /03 5/71 X Jame;

@RNAMENTAL BOW AND BLANK COMPONENTS THEREOF This invention relates to the decorative arts and more particularly to an ornamental bow for packages, the primary object being to provide a how that may be made in its entirety from a single sheet of initially fiat, flexible material.

It is the most important object of the present invention to provide a kit of decorative material including sheets of paper or the like from which the component parts of an ornamental bow may be quickly and easily made without special skill on the part of the user by virtue of the fact that such parts are set off by lines of weakness or the like providing the necessary guide preparatory to assembling the parts in the finished article.

Another important object of the instant invention is the provision of a decorative bow somewhat in the nature of a rosette or pompon made from strips of material rebent to present radial loops, the strips being initially in sheet form along with a fastener for interconnecting the loops, the fastener itself being'outlined by slits, incisions or the like for ready removal.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ornamental 'bow made pursuant to the present invention showing the same in place on a package.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a blank or sheet from which the loop-producing strips of one form of my invention are made and illustrating additionally three forms of fasteners- Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view through a how such as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of a blank showing another type of bow-forming strip and another type of fastener differing from those illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 embodying another form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a blank showing still another form of strip for producing a bow.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged, perspective view'illustrating one of the fasteners shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing another of the fasteners illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the fasteners shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary, elevational view of the fasteners shown in Fig. 9 during one stage of the folding operation.

Fig. 1 1 is a perspective view showing another manner of using the fasteners shown in Fig. 7; and

Fig. 12 is a perspectiveview of another of the fasteners shown in Fig. 2.

Ornamental bow 14, shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, may be made inaccordance with the present invention from a blank of initially fiat sheet material such as paper or the like and sub-divided as by lines of Weakness 118 into a plurality of rectangular strips 20 desirably of the same size and configuration.

When the strips 20 are separated, a selvage edge 22 may be removed by virture of a line of weakness 24 and deited St t s P OF 2,ss2,321 Patented Dec. 2, 1958 stroyed. Similarly, panel 26 may be separated from the opposite ends of thestrips 20 by Virtue of a line of weakness 28, panel 26 inturn containing one or more fasteners.

The fasteners may be identical if desired, or of varied forms as shown in Fig. 2, but from a commercial standpoint, it may well be desirable to provide in each sheet 16 respectively, only a sufficient number of strips 20 to complete a single bow 14, together with but one fastening element. In any event, panel 26 is shown provided with three separate fasteners 30, 32 and 34 of differing characters.

These fasteners, as well as fastener 36 shown in Fig. 4, are held in place solely by virtue of a few strategically placed, relatively small bridges 38 joining the same with their respective blanks. In other words, the fasteners are otherwise outlined throughout the peripheries thereof by slits formed in the blanks.

Fastener 30, shown'also in Figs. 7 and 9, is provided with a head 40 and a pair of legs 42 joined to the head 40 by lines of bend 44. Additional lines of bend 46 are provided in legs 42 adjacent the lines of bend 44.

,Still further, each leg 42 is provided with a line of bend 48 intermediate the ends thereof and such terminal ends are in turn bisected by slits 50 into a pair of tabs '52 and 54.

The blank 16 is provided with three parallel rows of fastener-receiving holes perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the strips 20, there being, therefore, a central hole 56 within each strip 20 respectively, and a hole 58 adjacent the outermost end of each strip 20 respectively.

After the strips 20 are removed from the blank 16 the ends thereof are rebent upon themselves to present a pair of substantially elliptical loops 60 extending oppositely from the center thereof and during the bending operation thetwo holes 58 are placed in register with the central hole 56. The strips 20 with the two loops 60 thereof, are placed in superimposed relationship interengaged at the centers thereof and thereupon interconnected by one of the fasteners. It is to be preferred that the loops 60 be arranged as shown in Fig. 1 radiating in all directions from the central hole 56, i. e. from the said fastener.

In the event fastener 30 is employed in the manner shown in Fig. 11, legs 42 are first bent along lines 44 and thereupon along lines 56 to place legs 42 in face-to-face relationship. Thereupon the legs 42 are folded outwardly along lines of -bend 48 after the legs 42 are threaded through the aligned openings 56 and 58. I The terminal ends of the legs 42 lying flatly on package 64 or on tying ribbon 66 thereof, are held in place by adhesive strips 68.

Alternately, the fastener 34) may be employed in the manner shown in Fig. 7. After the legs 42 are folded together along lines of bend 44 and 46, the two interengaging tabs 52 are bent laterally in one direction and the two interengaging tabs 54 are bent laterally in the opposite direction, upwardly toward the head 40, whereupon insertion is made through aligned holes 56 and 58. As soon as the tabs 52 and 54 clear the holes 58 of the lowermost strip 29, tabs 52 and 54 will automatically assume the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 7 and substantially as shown in Fig. 11 where similar attachment may be made by use of adhesive strips 68 or the like.

The fastener 32 shown also in Fig. 8, is similar to fastener 30 in all respects except for the provision of slits 50. Instead, the terminal ends of legs 70 are pointed and opposed, transverse slits 72 are formed in the legs 70. Such' construction permits the legs 70 to be interlocked as shown in Fig. 8, facilitating insertion thereof through openings 56 and 58, whereupon the legs 70 are unlocked and folded outwardly in opposite directions as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 8, substantially as in Fig. 11,

. such final folding step occurring along lines of bend 74 in the legs 70 comparable to lines of bend 48.

Head 76 of fastener 34 differs slightly from head 40 in that it is initially rectangular as seen in Fig. 2 and provided with lines of bend 78 to present a pair of wings 80 that may be bent upwardly as seen in Fig. 12. Wings 80 are provided with slits 82 adapted to receive a gift card 84 or the like which will manifestly overlie the bow 14 since legs 86 of the fastener 34 are used to interconnect the strips and fasten the bow 14 to the package 64 in the same manner as above described.

Blank 88 in Fig. 4 is provided with strips 90 separated by lines of weakness 92, but the strips 90 differ slightly from the strips 20 in that the same are narrowed adjacent center hole 94 thereof and adjacent outermost holes 96. This is accomplished by provision of elliptical portions 98 between the holes 94 and triangular portions 100 between the holes 96, all of the portions 98 and 100 constituting waste when the strips v90 are separated and thereupon folded into the loops in the same manner as above set forth.

The fastener 36 shown in the blank 88 differs from the fastener 30 in that there is provided three transverse lines of bend 101, 103 and 105 adjacent the outermost ends of the legs 107 thereof. Each line of bend 103 is intersected by a longitudinal slit 109 extending between the two lines of bend 101 and 105.

After the legs 107 are initially bent into face-to-face relationship, both legs 107 are bent in one direction Cit along the two juxtaposed lines of bend 103 to the position shown in Fig. 10. This presents a pair of tabs 111 and 113, each of which is made up of four thicknesses of material. Thereupon, the tab 111 is bent in one direction on juxtaposed lines of bend 101105 and tab 113 is bent laterally in the opposite direction along the juxtaposed lines of bend 101-105, all as seen in Fig. 9.

The fastener 36 is thereupon inserted in holes 5658 or 9496 as the case may be, for subsequent attachment to the package 64 as above set forth when describing the use of fastener in Fig. 7.

Blank 102 in Fig. 5 is provided with holes 104 and 106 for the same reasons as above set forth, but the material from which blank 102 is made is of a special character. There are many substances readily available on the open market in sheet form that are fibrous in their entireties and the fibers all run longitudinally of the sheet so that when the sheet is torn from one end thereof, it will separate along a straight line. When material of such nature is employed in producing sheet 102, it is desirable that the user be guided in formation of bow-producing strips by a plurality of equally spaced notches 108 at one or both ends of the blank 102, it being noted that the notches 108 are midway between the proximal holes 106.

Consequently, using the notches 108 as a guide, the user may quickly and easily separate the blank 102 into a plurality of bow-producing strips similar in nature to strips 20 of equal width and each having a central hole 104, together with a pair of end holes 106. It is seen that the construction contemplated by the embodiment shown in Fig. 5, eliminates the necessity of providing incisions, perforations or other lines of weakness as at 18 and 92 in blanks 16 and 88 respectively.

Blank 110 in Fig. 6 is similar in nature to blank 16 from the standpoint at least of providing lines of weakness 112 setting apart a plurality of bow-forming strips 114. However, in lieu of holes and fasteners as the means of holding the strips in a looped condition and maintaining the same in superimposed bow-forming relationship, the blank 110 is provided with three rows of adhesive 116,

118 and 120, disposed perpendicular and'in intersecting relationship to the lines 112 and the longitudinal axes of the strip 114. 1

It is noted that the rows of adhesive are positioned in substantially the same location as the holes in the blanks above described, adhesive 118 being at the center and adhesive116'and 120 being adjacentthe ends of the strips 114. Noteworthy also is the fact that the band 4 of adhesive 118 is substantially wider than the widths of the bands of adhesive 116 and 120.

Accordingly, when the strips 114 are rebent upon themselves to form a pair of loops as at 60 in Figs. 1 and 3, the three patches of adhesive 116 and 118 are brought into engagement with a portion of the patch of adhesive 118 to hold the ends of the strips 114 in the loop-forming position. A center portion of the patch of adhesive 118 is not covered by the ends of the strips 114 however. Accordingly, when the looped strips 114 are placed in superimposed interengagement, the central portions of the adhesive patches 118 are utilized to interconnect the strips midway between the ends thereof and accordingly, between the two proximal ends of the strips 114.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A decorative bow made entirely from an initially fiat sheet of relatively flexible material and comprising a plurality of elongated strips initially contained in said sheet in side-byside relationship separated by lines of weakness in said sheet and rebent upon themselves when removed from the sheet to present a pair of substantially elliptical loops extending oppositely from the center thereof, the strips being in superimposed interengagement at said centers with the loops radiating outwardly in all directions from the zone of interengagernent; and a fastener initially contained in said sheet, defined by lines of weakness in said sheet, and adapted for interconnecting the strips at said zone when the fastener is removed from the sheet.

2. A decorative bow made entirely from an initially fiat sheet'of relatively flexible material and comprising a plurality of elongated strips initially contained in said sheet in side-by-side relationship separated by lines of weakness in said sheet and rebent upon themselves when removed from the sheet to present a pair of substantially elliptical loops extending oppositely from the center thereof, each strip having holes therein at its center and adjacent each end thereof respectively, the strips being in superimposed interengagement at said centers with said holes of all of the strips in alignment and the loops radiating outwardly in all directions from the zone of interengagement; and a fastener initially contained in said sheet, defined by lines of weakness in said sheet and adapted for passing through said holes and interconnecting the strips at said zone when the fastener is removed from the sheet, said fastener having a head overlying the uppermost strip and a pair of legs extending through the strips, the legs having portions thereof bent laterally in opposite directions beneath the lowermost strip.

3. A blank for forming a decorative bow comprising an initially flat sheet of relatively flexible material having a plurality of elongated, substantially parallel lines of weakness and a pair of elongated lines of weakness laterally intersecting said plurality of lines adjacent the ends of the latter defining a plurality of elongated, bowforming strips removable from the sheet and bendable to form loops of a how, there being a plurality of spaced rows of holes in the sheet extending laterally of said plurality of lines to provide alignable fastener-receiving openings in the strips.

4. In a blank as set forth in claim 3, wherein is provided further lines of weakness in the sheet defining a bendable fastening element removable from the sheet and including a head portion and a pair of leg portions.

5. In a blank as set forth in claim 4, wherein said further lines include a first pair of substantially parallel, elongated, leg defining lines, a second pair of substantially parallel, elongated, leg defining lines respectively aligned with and spaced from the lines of said first pair, a pair of spaced, arcuate, oppositely curved, head defining lines respectively interconnecting the adjacent ends of the corresponding lines of said first and second pairs thereof.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 James Aug. 7, 1951 James June 22, 1954 James Feb. 28, 1956 James Dec. 18, 1956 

